A fight to live
by lizzieten
Summary: If Sakura had known one small fact, she never would have pushed Naruto and Naruto wouldn't be fighting for his life.
1. Chapter 1

A Fight to live

Chapter one

The day started out like any other day, the birds singing, the sun rising over Hokage Mountain, shining brightly over everything its rays touched. It was the typical perfect day where nothing could go wrong. of course just because it seemed perfect didn't mean that it was. For some this day would end up being a day of regrets and guilt and for others completely life changing.

A young Genin of about twelve years old lay sprawled face down, snoring with drool dripping from his mouth to his pillow. He had spent three hours training with his team the day before with another additional six hours training by himself, by the time he had dragged himself back to his apartment he had been exhausted. To the other ninja around the Leaf Village they all thought he was crazy wearing himself out with training. He had one goal in life and that was to become Hokage. If he had to exhaust himself during the process so be it. It would be the greatest Hokage yet, and to that he had to be the best and he was a long way off from that at the moment. Nothing would come in his way and stop him however; it was the only thing he really even cared about.

An alarm sounded with an annoying buzzing sound and a hand reached over and knocked it off the small bedside table. The clatter to the floor didn't stop the continuing sound so the young ninja was forced to drag himself out of bed and manually shut the alarm off. Once on his feet he stretched his stiff and sore muscles. He wished he had someone who could wake him up when it was time to get ready for training or missions. It was a lonely existence having to live alone. Sighing, Naruto headed for his restroom and had a shower before he made his beloved ramen for breakfast. Glancing at his clock he noted that he had a little while before team 7 had to meet. Naruto decided he was going to try and learn another jutsu or two before he left so he sat down in the middle of his floor and surrounded himself with scrolls.

An hour later Naruto was still surrounded by scrolls, he had barely managed to get one jutsu learned when he glanced at his clock and noticed it was time to go. Sighing, he climbed to his feet leaving his scrolls on the floor. He would continue where he left off when he got back. Heading for his door he walked out shutting the door behind him and locking though he knew it really wouldn't make that much of a difference if he locked it or not. If somebody wanted to get in they would. A locked door didn't stop them, Naruto could remember coming home from missions and finding his so called home absolutely trashed. Sometimes he wondered if it was even worth staying there anymore but then he figured it wouldn't matter because no matter what he done he was treated the same by just about everybody. Until he had graduated from school he hadn't understood why the people in the village had treated him so badly. Thanks to a loud mouthed sensei he now understood all too well why they hated him; all because he was the host of the nine tailed fox that had tried to destroy the village twelve years ago. That wasn't his fault so Naruto wondered why he was blamed for it, couldn't they see that being the host didn't mean he was the monster? _Apparently not _Naruto thought as he turned away from his apartment and started walking down the hall, flinching as his neighbor glared at him for all she was worth. Naruto smiled and continued on his way. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his orange pants he wondered out into the street mindful of the people who went out of their way just to avoid him. His life was one lonely existence and he wished people would understand his situation but he knew that would be asking for the impossible. Sighing, Naruto continued on his way, he would be training with his two teammates Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. Sakura had been his crush for as long as Naruto could remember so it was natural that he was looking forward to seeing the pink haired ninja. Sasuke however, was Naruto's current rival, and he wasn't looking forward to seeing the sullen raven duck butt haired ninja. Sakura of course thought the moon rose and sat on Sasuke and Naruto was itching to prove that he was just as good as his rival except that Naruto usually failed at everything he started.

Ten minutes later Naruto reached the bridge he was meeting team 7 at, and as usual he was the first one there. Walking over he leaned over the edge of the railing and looked down at the sparkling water. He was planning on asking Sakura out on another date today as he had done previously for the past several days but so far she had always given him a resounding no followed by a thump on the head that usually left him with a headache. Maybe today he would get lucky and she would finally give in, he could only hope.

Sighing and a tad bit tired of waiting Naruto pulled himself up on the railing and proceeded to walk the length of it. he was just over the water when Sasuke approached and leaned against the railing. Naruto for once didn't feel like challenging him and continued his balance act. It was a very few minutes later that Sakura appear and Naruto's face lit up with a bright smile.

"Hey Sakura" he called out "want to go out on a date?" he hollered right as she started to go past him.

"For the last time NO" Sakura growled instantly annoyed at the sight of the vibrant hyperactive teammate. That being said she reached over and pushed Naruto into the water, not seeing the panic in the genin's face as he fell into the water. Not giving any thought to danger she approached Sasuke and began to pepper him with questions.

"Do you think Kakashi is going to be on time this time?" she asked knowing that as usual the brooding teen wouldn't answer her. Sasuke just turned away and ignored her, he wondered briefly why Naruto hadn't yet returned from his recent bath in the pond, but the then he heard a poof and Kakashi was there several minutes later.

"Where's Naruto?" Kakashi asked lazily, surprised that the most hyperactive Genin wasn't there yet, usually he beat everyone else to the bridge.

"Um.." Sakura said and walked over to railing and looked over the bridge and into the water. What she saw terrified her.

TBC?

Let me know if you want me to continue and thanks for reading and reviewing hope you liked it. Liz


	2. Chapter 2

A fight to live

Chapter two

Sakura stared in horror at the scene below, for a moment refusing to believe it. Her ever annoying teammate was floating face down in the water.

"Please be a prank" Sakura murmured as she raced across the bridge and down the bank and into the pond below the bridge.

Hearing Sakura enter the water Kakashi and Sasuke looked over the railing. When Kakashi saw the motionless Naruto he easily leaped over the railing and into the chilly water. Landing close to where Naruto floated, Kakashi swam over and turned him over and he immediately noticed that his young charge wasn't breathing. Feeling panic starting to creep in Kakashi wrapped an arm around Naruto's chest and started swimming towards shore. _How the hell did he even end up in the water, just about everybody knew he couldn't swim _Kakashi thought.

"Go get help" Kakashi ordered Sakura as he approached the shore. One thing was certain Naruto was going to need more help than he could give. Sakura nodded and turned and waded back out of the pond and up the bank where she took off running towards the hospital. Sasuke was waiting at the water's edge when Kakashi got close enough he helped pull the limp body onto dry land. Laying him flat, Kakashi placed two fingers on Naruto's neck and felt for a pulse. He had no idea how long Naruto had been in the water but he prayed it hadn't been very long.

"He's not breathing" Sasuke commented not wanting to admit he was worried about how still and lifeless the blonde dobe looked.

"I know that Sasuke" Kakashi muttered knowing he didn't have much time until Naruto perished for good which made Kakashi wonder what the hell the fox was doing that he wasn't healing his host? Something was definitely going on if the fox wasn't doing anything about his host's condition. He wished at that moment that Sasuke wasn't there so that he could check the seal, he had a feeling that the fox was up to no good. He just hoped they had time to fix it before all hell broke loose.

"We're going to have to do CPR" Kakashi said "Do you know how?" he looked up at Sasuke and he nodded before dropping to his knees besides his teammates limp body.

"I'll do chest compressions and you can breath for him" Kakashi said thinking fast of a way to avoid revealing his face. Sasuke noticed this and scowled. He would get a look at Kakashi's real face one of these days. Now when his teammate's life was in danger was not the time to attempt a look.

Kakashi interlocked his hands and pressed down firmly on Naruto's chest right above his heart.

"One" he counted as he released and then pressed down firmly once again. He hoped it wasn't too late for his sensei's son.

"Two" he counted out again but this time he felt the unmistakable give of a broken rib, he grimaced he hadn't wanted to hurt Naruto but if he lived than Kakashi guessed a few broken ribs would be worth it.

"Damn fox" Kakashi thought he wouldn't have to be hurting Naruto in the first place if the stupid demon done what it had always done previously. He paused the chest compressions and checked Naruto's pulse; it still wasn't any stronger than it had been the first time he'd checked.

"Come on Naruto" Kakashi hissed as the genin showed no signs of responding to the treatment he was being given. "Where's that determination you're known for?" a few compressions later Kakashi paused to let Sasuke breath for him. He hoped Sakura would hurry back; one thing was certain in this case time was not on their side. He didn't want to see his sensei's son come to this end. He watched as the brooding teen before him reluctantly breath into Naruto's mouth. Kakashi closely monitored each breath with Naruto's pulse, it still hadn't changed.

Just as Kakashi was about to start chest compressions again Tsunade and Sakura returned with two medical Nin's right behind them. Sakura closed her eyes at the sight of the normally hyperactive teammate lying limply on the ground. She could tell Kakashi and Sasuke hadn't made any progress with him from the time she'd left.

_"it's my fault, he's like this" _she thought grimly _"No one had ever told me that Naruto couldn't swim."_ But then she remembered that for as long as she could recall she had never seen Naruto get into any body of water, be it pond or ocean. She had remembered thinking it strange because what kid didn't enjoy swimming, the thought had never occurred to her that Naruto had never had anyone to teach him how to swim. That made her feel even guiltier Naruto didn't really even have friends everyone she knew herself included treated him pretty badly. If he died his blood might as well have been on her hands because she was the one who had pushed him off the bridge.

"What happened?" Tsunade demanded terror filling her heart as she saw her brat lying so still.

"I pushed him off the bridge" Sakura said coming to stand beside Tsunade who was now kneeling down beside Kakashi and Sasuke. "No one had ever told me he couldn't swim."

"We will discuss this later" Tsunade told Sakura as she gave orders to the medical Nin's to get Naruto to the hospital OR as fast as possible. She wasn't sure there was going to be much she could do for him but she hoped she could do something.

"I have to talk to you" Kakashi told Tsunade as the medics disappeared with Naruto.

"Go on with the medics" she told Sakura and Sasuke "I have to discuss something with Kakashi but we will be following you to the hospital." they nodded and disappeared up the path the medics had taken.

"I think the fox is up to something" Kakashi said "otherwise Naruto would have been back on his feet by now. Whatever the demon has planned it's not going to be good, we're going to have to do something fast or it's going to mean the end of Naruto."

Tsunade frowned it had worried her also that the fox wasn't healing Naruto. The fact that the fox had something in store for this situation was a scary thought too.

"Did you check the seal?" she asked.

"No, Sasuke was watching every move I made which made that impossible." Kakashi replied. Tsunade sighed this of course would happen while she was the current Hokage.

"The fox isn't just trying to take over Naruto" she commented "he's trying to get out."

**That's what's going on right now, next chapter will get more into Naruto's current condition so I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading and reviewing. Have a great weekend. Liz **


	3. Chapter 3

A fight to live

Chapter 3

Tsunade sighed she followed the path the medic nin's had taken.

"I guess things have just gotten complicated" she muttered her heart aching for the young ninja who so reminded her of her own little brother. It hurt her to think of what would happen if they couldn't find a way to keep the fox from escaping.

"This doesn't have to be the end for Naruto" Kakashi said taking his famous orange book out of his pocket and holding it in front of his face. "There are still a few options before it becomes necessary to execute him."

"Aside from execution I don't see many options" Tsunade said "I know a seal but it's only a temporary fix, the only thing it's going to do is buy us some time. I'll send out the Anbu to find Jiraiya, he's the only one who will be able to stop the fox. I just hope he'll be willing to come back to the village."

"Tell him upfront about it being about Naruto, he'll come" Kakashi said confidently. After all what Godfather wanted their Godson to die, and a demon to destroy his home village at the same time.

"Another problem is keeping Naruto strong enough to keep the fox from escaping. He's in pretty bad shape right now; I don't need to run any tests to know that." Tsunade said "I think the fox planned to get Naruto at his weakest and then he was going to make his move."

"A damn smart move" Kakashi said "but we're going to have to be smarter if we want to save his life."

They traveled the rest of the way to the hospital in silence, each lost in their own thoughts as they approached the doors.

"I assume you're going to be waiting with Sakura and Sasuke?" Tsunade asked as they walked into the building. Kakashi nodded.

"He is my student after all." He said before walking off to find his other two students.

Tsunade disappeared into the OR where the medic nin's were already working feverishly to get the Jinchuriki breathing on own once more.

"Has he responded at all?" Tsunade asked it hadn't been that long since they'd all been at the bridge but still the longer Naruto went without oxygen the higher the risk of brain damage. She walked over to the bed that Naruto was lying still on and reached down and gently squeezed Naruto's cold fingers.

"No Hokage-Sama, but he hasn't gotten worse either."

"Get him on a respirator; he's obviously going to need help breathing for a while." Tsunade ordered and while the medics were rushing around the room to obey her orders. Tsunade gently removed Naruto's jacket and the shirt he wore underneath it. what she saw didn't really surprise her all that much, in fact she had been expecting to see something like it. The seal on Naruto's stomach appeared to be fading away and she knew that if it disappeared completely it would be bad news for the village. She wondered how it was possible she had always thought the seal would last until it was time to choose another host.

"I hope you're not too busy to see what you can do to save Naruto, Jiraiya" she muttered. She didn't want to have to be the one to have to order Naruto to be executed, but if it came down to saving the village she would have to put the village first as much as she would hate it. Sighing she placed her hands on Naruto's stomach and mumbled a few words for the temporary seal to be placed. She hoped it would last until Jiraiya could be found but at the rate the other one was disappearing she wasn't sure that it would. Reaching down she took Naruto's hand in hers.

"You had better hang on brat, the village needs you right now." that being said she grabbed a stethoscope on his chest, as she listened to his lungs she winced. It didn't sound good at all.

"He's aspirated water into his lungs" Tsunade said as she moved away "That doesn't bode well for him. We have to keep an eye on him and make sure he stays on oxygen for a while and I want to do a cat scan. Normal drowning victims should have showed some signs of recovery by now. He hasn't" she didn't have to say that that was worrying her more than the disappearing seal was. She cared for the ninja lying on the table before but she hated what she was seeing. What made it worse was knowing that his own teammate had put him in this condition, although all the blame couldn't be placed on Sakura's shoulders. It wasn't like she had known that he couldn't swim. It was sad that his teammates weren't interested in finding out the small things about Naruto. Tsunade was willing to bet that both Sakura and Sasuke knew next to nothing about him.

"Get him on an antibiotic IV and moved into intensive care after the brain scan." Tsunade ordered and walked out of the OR. She hoped Naruto had the strength to fight because it was going to get pretty hard for the next little while.

Tsunade walked into the waiting room to find Sakura and Sasuke not waiting very patiently, Kakashi was hiding behind his orange book but his eyes were on the operating room doors. He watched her cross the room and instantly knew the news wasn't going to be too good.

"How is he?" Sakura asked softly concern hidden in her quiet voice.

"In all honesty not very well, he's in critical condition. Right now we're having a cat scan done to check for brain damage, which can occur when he's been without oxygen for a short period of time. He's aspirated water into his lungs, which basically means his lungs are filled with water which adds even more stress to his current condition." Tsunade paused as she heard a sob being torn from Sakura's throat. She hated having to be so blunt but they needed to know that the odds weren't so great. And with what she knew about the fox, it was even worse.

"We're going to try everything we can to help him" Tsunade said gently placing a hand on Sakura's shoulder. The girl obviously was feeling pretty guilty which she should have been. "He's going to have around the clock care, but you need to know how his condition truly is."

"I should have known he couldn't swim" Sakura said "I should have taken the time to have gotten to know him then maybe I wouldn't have pushed him off the bridge."

"I agree you shouldn't have pushed him but it's been done there is no going back to fix it." Tsunade said. Sasuke had yet to say a word but he listened with a quiet intensity that surprised even Kakashi. Usually Sasuke was only that focused on getting revenge on his brother. Did this mean Sasuke cared more about Naruto then he let on?

"This is my fault" Sakura cried softly feeling even guiltier by the minute. If he got better Sakura was going to treat him a lot better and maybe even go on one of those dates he was always begging her more.

"Maybe you and Sasuke should go on home and get some rest" Tsunade said "You won't be able to see Naruto tonight anyways, and you could use a break from the stress." Sakura opened her mouth to argue but Kakashi prodded her gently. He could tell Tsunade needed to talk to him and she couldn't with the two younger ninja's sitting there.

"Go on and get some rest, we'll meet up for training tomorrow." Kakashi said knowing that the training would help them both keep their minds of the current situation.

Sakura was finally convinced that she couldn't do anything for Naruto but wearing herself out so she and Sasuke both walked out of the hospital with two sets of eyes following them.

"The fox is trying to get Naruto at his weakest so that he can break out. I'm afraid he doesn't have far to go until Naruto is at that point." Tsunade said quietly making sure she wasn't being overheard. Kakashi sighed and put away his book.

"This isn't a crisis I ever thought we would ever have to face." He commented "Sensei's seal should be working better than it is."

"That's just the problem" Tsunade said "the seal is disappearing, it's not anything I've ever seen before, I have the feeling if it disappears completely we'll have a dead ninja and a loose demon fox." Kakashi was surprised seals didn't just fade away like she was describing.

"It's possible it had help, after all how would the fox get strong enough to affect the seal in the first place" Kakashi suggested. Not liking the idea that some person was causing the whole seal mess.

"If that's the case and I find the person responsible, they'll regret messing with that boy's life and the monster within him." Tsunade growled.

"Give me one shot at them and they'll never make that mistake again" Kakashi agreed.

"I'm going to get back to him now" Tsunade said standing to her feet. "I want the results from that scan; I'll inform you what I find out. In the meantime keep an eye out for anybody suspicious, although I don't think it's going to be that easy to find the person responsible for this mess if there even is somebody at fault." Kakashi nodded things had gotten very complicated indeed.

**Hope you enjoy this chapter, there shall be more in a few days. Thanks for reading and reviewing. liz**


	4. Chapter 4

A fight to live

Chapter four

Tsunade watched team 7 disappear out of the hospital doors before she turned and headed back to the ICU. She was even more worried about Naruto then she'd told them. They knew nothing about the whole seal situation, so Sasuke and Sakura truly did not know how things really stood for Naruto. She always heard things were darkest right before dawn; she hoped that was true in Naruto's case. She couldn't bear to lose him, someone who worked as hard as he did deserved to see their dreams come true.

A few minutes later she walked into the cat scan room and found the technician going over some scans.

"Is Naruto's scans ready?" she asked somehow sensing that the scans wouldn't be good news.

"Yes Hokage-Sama, I'm looking at them right now" he said handing them over to her. She held them up to the light and looked at them. What she saw made her sick. There were several areas that showed severe damage.

"My god" she whispered "surely this couldn't have all been from the drowning."

"I don't think it was" the tech said "some of it looks like it's been there for a while."

"How the hell does he have no effects from it then?" she wondered out loud.

"Probably cause it was small things that everybody thought was normal for him, like he was more clumsy than usual, could have had trouble picking things up, which when around Sakura anyone could have passed it off as nervousness, and as for the clumsy issue, he always has been clumsy so who would have thought that there would be a different cause to it."

Tsunade scowled and then asked a question that was burning in her mind.

"How the hell did he get brain damaged?"

"It's not exactly uncommon for the villagers to go after him" the tech said nervously if he had known about that then so had other people.

"That was supposed to have stopped" Tsunade growled getting even angrier at the thought that the villagers had been causing harm to Naruto and nobody had ever done anything about it.

"People still carry grudges, you won't be able to stop that" The tech said.

"No but I can make them wish they had never laid a finger on him as soon as I find out who had hurt him this time." The tech frowned the Hokage sounded deadly serious.

Sighing Tsunade looked at the scans again and shook her head. Naruto really was in for a hard time but he wouldn't go through it alone. She would be there for him assuming they could find a way to stop the fox that is.

"Don't let any word of his condition get out" Tsunade said as she headed for the door to the scan room. "I don't want anybody to know his true condition, if they did I have they feeling he would have some help to the other side."

"I won't say a word but how will you get the whole hospital to keep quiet somebody is bound to talk."

"I'm the Hokage and unless they want to die themselves they won't utter a word." She said as she walked out of the door and headed towards Naruto's room. She hated having to threaten anybody but she was serious about protecting Naruto. If the villagers still went after him every day who would they be to stop kicking him when he was down?

Walking into his room she looked over at the young blonde who lay unnaturally still. Walking over to the bed she grabbed a chair and pulled it over and sat down close to his head.

"Why didn't you ever tell me they were still hurting you?" she asked softly as she reached out and brushed some of his hair away from his eyes. She hated seeing him so still because she knew he wasn't like that when he was conscious.

"You don't have to hide your hurts from me; I'm always going to be here to take care of you. So is Kakashi, if you felt like you couldn't tell me you could have gone to him." she wondered if there was anyone that Naruto truly trusted, she would have thought Iruka would have been that person, why did Naruto hide this from him? She wondered then if anyone had even told Iruka about Naruto's so called accident. Probably not since the teacher had yet to make an appearance. One thing was certain if he had known nothing would have kept him from being in the room with Naruto, not even the ICU rules.

"I'm sorry this happened Naruto" she said as she stood up "But I can promise I will be more active about protecting you, something like this won't ever happen again." Of course she didn't add her fears about his survival figuring he didn't need to know the odds he was up against.

"I'm going to go find Iruka for you" she said softly "He's going to be upset about this but he'd want to know." She bent forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

"No one will ever hurt you again" she said whispered as she straightened and headed for the door.

Iruka was more than a little upset once Tsunade had found him and had told him about Naruto.

"You let Sakura get by with pushing him off the bridge" the teacher said upset that his favorite former student's life hung in the balance.

"Punishments will be forth coming but I thought it better to concentrate on saving Naruto's life rather than doling out her punishment." She said forgiving Iruka for his temper knowing how much he cared about Naruto.

"I guess you know that I will be taking a leave from the academy to stay with Naruto" Iruka said making his decision in a second.

"I was hoping you would" she said "I don't want him left alone; I don't trust the villagers to not try to hurt him again"

"I thought that was over" Iruka said walking beside Tsunade to get to Naruto's room.

"So did I but some brain damage showed up on his brain scan that wasn't from the drowning." Iruka frowned and for an instant felt hurt that Naruto hadn't come to him when he'd been hurt.

"I suppose he had his own reasons for not telling anybody what they were doing to him but rest easy I'll do my best to keep him well protected from now on."

"Just don't smother him" Iruka muttered "he likes his space."

"He won't know they are there only a few of us who need to know will" she assured him.

Once they had reached Naruto's room, Iruka had been shocked at his former students condition, he had known that Naruto was going to be pretty bad, but he was worse than even he had thought.

"Good god who would want to do this to him" he wondered out loud as he entered the room. Then he remembered that Naruto was in this condition because Sakura had pushed him off the bridge.

"She shouldn't be allowed to be a ninja anymore" Iruka said as he sat down in the chair beside the bed.

"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" Tsunade asked.

"Don't you think it's a little harsh that she never took the time to get to know him, to know that he didn't know how to swim?" Tsunade said nothing because she knew Iruka was right.

"Be that as it may" she said "she will be punished but I won't be taking her headband from her, I will think of something but for now let's worry about him."

**Sorry it took so long to update, the holidays had me pretty busy and I didn't have much time to write. I hope you like and that it makes sense. Thanks for reading and reviewing and have an awesome new year! Liz**


	5. Chapter 5

A fight to live

Chapter 5

Iruka sat silently watching as the machine breathed for Naruto. He couldn't believe that his former student was even in this condition; normally the fox would have healed him by now unless the fox was part of the problem. He frowned surely it couldn't be the fox could it? He couldn't believe Naruto would even hide that he was hurt; after all they had been through together in the last several months.

"I though you trusted me enough to tell me when you were hurt" Iruka said softly though he ached for the boy on the bed who thought that no one cared for him, and didn't trust anybody not to hurt him. No one truly knew how it was to live in Naruto's shoes; to be despised for something he had no control over. He couldn't even begin to imagine the pain and anguish that Naruto lived with day after day.

A few minutes later with Iruka deep in thought, the door to Naruto's room opened and Kakashi walked in.

"No change in his condition" he said from behind Iruka, who jumped because he hadn't been expecting him.

"I thought you were supposed to be resting" he grumbled turning his attention back to Naruto.

"I don't think Tsunade mentioned everything about his condition; I couldn't rest knowing that he is probably worse than she even told us" Kakashi said moving to stand beside Naruto.

"He is worse" Iruka said "his brain suffered severe damage not only from the drowning but from a beating he'd received not too long ago." Kakashi frowned he would have known if Naruto had been hurt at some point wouldn't he? He couldn't remember Naruto ever acting like anything was wrong. But be that as it may it didn't bode well for Naruto's career as a ninja. He didn't know what Naruto would do if Tsunade took his head band away. His heart ached at just the thought of it, the kid lived to be a ninja after all.

"He could still manage to overcome the odds" Kakashi said knowing that if he survived he would help his student in any way possible.

"I don't understand why he didn't come to us in the first place" Iruka said.

"Perhaps he was ashamed of not being able to stop it" Kakashi said thoughtfully. Though the only way he couldn't have stopped it was if he had been grossly outnumbered, which led Kakashi to wonder why the hell Naruto hadn't been able to use his shadow clones.

"How does one miss such a massive beating?" Iruka said feeling ashamed of himself for having not known that it was going on. He of all people should know that grudges are not so easy to let go of. The villagers were still struggling with what had happened and struggling with their own losses, not that it made it right to attack Naruto after all it wasn't his fault.

"That is troubling" Kakashi said "but what's even more troubling is why the hell couldn't he use the shadow clones?"

"The only thing I can think of is that nine tails is somehow withdrawing his chakra and not letting Naruto use it, without it Naruto couldn't do the shadow clones because they use such a large amount of chakra." Iruka said and scowled this meant that the fox had been working on his break out a lot longer than anyone had realized.

"I think we should move Naruto to somewhere outside the village" Kakashi said "None of this is going to bode well for the village or Naruto." He hated that this situation had just been made a hundred times worse. He had come to care for Naruto and hated what this was going to do to the hyperactive youngster. He wished this whole thing could have been avoided. He didn't want to see Naruto die like this, he didn't want him to die at all.

"His condition is far too serious to have him moved" Tsunade said upon entering the room and overhearing the two ninjas conversation.

"Moving him would worsen his condition and kill him that much quicker, here we can do everything possible even if it is to ease his passing" Tsunade said and Kakashi could see the heartbreak in her eyes. No one in that room wanted him to die but he was beginning to wonder if it wasn't inevitable.

"What are we going to do then?" Iruka said "the fox has been working on breaking out for longer than we thought, his condition is getting worse"

"We pray that Jiraiya gets here in time and knows what to do" she said "We have done everything physically possible for him, if he wants to live he's going to have to fight for it."

"Doesn't sound like much of an option waiting on Jiraiya when he might not have the answer" Kakashi said and he knew that if Jiraiya didn't know what to do, they only had one option left: execution.

"For now I'm going to keep an eye on the seal and reapply the one I placed on him as many times as necessary, make no mistake I'm not willing to let him go."

"Neither are we" Iruka answered for both him and Kakashi because he knew the silver haired nin felt the same way he did.

Sighing Kakashi reached down and patted Naruto's head.

"It's beginning to sound like we're damned if we do and damned if we don't. Supposing he wakes up he's going to have disabilities to overcome, not that I doubt him because if anybody can do it he can." Iruka said. "why is that he suffers more than anyone else?"

"I don't know but he'll be helped every single step of the way" Kakashi said "Even if I have to work alone with him until he's where he should be.

Tsunade was glad that Naruto had a strong support system, he was going to need, and if Naruto doubted that he was loved after this than he really did have issues. She smiled there was no doubt that everyone hear loved the boy lying on the bed. they would all do what was necessary to help him overcome this obstacle. Now she prayed that Jiraiya would make it in time.

**So I hope that makes sense, in my mind it does. Anyways I hope you enjoy it. thanks for reading and reviewing.**


	6. Chapter 6

A fight to live

Chapter 6

Jiraiya of the three Sannin was quietly researching for his next Make Out Tactics book, when he heard someone approaching from behind him, swiftly he turned around and found two Anbu members standing there. He wondered briefly if Tsunade had somehow found out what he'd been up too again.

"Lord Jiraiya we need you to come with us" the one in the Cat mask said "It's a matter of great importance."

"Can you not just tell me what's so important that you're taking me away from my research" the white haired ninja asked.

"All that I can say is that Lady Tsunade has requested that we bring you back to the village. She didn't give us the details other than the fact that it's of the utmost importance that you come as soon as possible." Jiraiya frowned whatever was going on couldn't be good if the Hokage had sent for him. He wondered then if something was going on with Naruto, he was one of the very few that knew anything about the seal. If that's what was going on it made sense. But he hoped that all was well with the hyperactive blonde.

"I'll need to get my things together than I'll head that way" Jiraiya said as he turned his back to the bathhouse were there were several women bathing. "And don't you dare tell the Hokage where you found me" Jiraiya ordered before muttering "She'll kill me, she doesn't care that I'm researching for my book or not."

That being said the two Anbu made a few hand signs and then disappeared leaving Jiraiya to return to Konoha on his own. He hoped it wouldn't be too late for Naruto by the time he got there, just the thought of the hyperactive blonde dying spurred the perverted nin on, he wouldn't let a cruel prank be the last thing that Naruto took from this world, and Jiraiya sure as hell wasn't going to stand by and let the nine tailed fox escape either, the village had suffered enough at its hands.

"Hang on Naruto, I'm coming." Jiraiya muttered as he hefted his bag onto his shoulder and left without looking behind him. The trip would normally have taken two days but he was determined he'd be back in the village at the end of the day. He pushed himself hard for hours despite the fact he desperately needed a rest.

Several hours later Jiraiya made his way through the village gates and towards the Hokage's tower. He wanted to know what was going on with Naruto. Once at the tower he didn't bother waiting for the Anbu to announce his presence instead he walked through her door. Luckily for him Tsunade wasn't in a meeting instead she stood at the windows overlooking the village looking like she was lost in thought.

"You got me in the village, now what's so important that I be here?" Jiraiya asked "The Anbu wouldn't tell me anything does it have to do with Naruto?"

She turned towards him and Jiraiya frowned at the grim look on her face, whatever news she had it was obviously pretty bad. He had the feeling he wasn't going to like what she had to say.

"Yes it is about Naruto" she said slowly turning to face him. "He's currently in critical condition in the hospital." Jiraiya stared at her in shock, he hadn't been expecting things to be that bad.

"What happened? He should never have had to go to the hospital in the first place" Jiraiya said "that's what the dumb fox is for."

"Not so dumb fox" Tsunade said turning back towards the window. "Sakura pushed Naruto off the bridge and into the pond, nobody realized he couldn't swim for several minutes and by the time he was brought out of the water, he hadn't been breathing for several minutes, that led to brain damage but we won't know the extent of that until he wakes up, if he wakes up."

"Once again why is the fox not healing him?" Jiraiya asked.

"Because the fox wants him at his weakest so he can break the seal and escape. Obviously for the safety of the village that can't be allowed to happen, but more than that we can't let it happen for Naruto's sake. You know more about the seal than I do, I figure that maybe you can somehow fix it." Jiraiya frowned he didn't like what he was hearing. Since when had the fox ever been smart enough to try something like this?

"Too bad there's not a way to just remove the fox without killing Naruto" Jiraiya said.

"We don't have much time to find out how to fix the seal, Naruto is slowly getting worse with every minute that is passing, I don't want him to die, but I can't let the fox out either." Jiraiya understood the problem and didn't envy Tsunade the decision that had to be made if he couldn't find an answer to their problem.

"I'll never every scroll you have on all types of seals" Jiraiya said "I'm going to have to do a lot of research in a small amount of time."

"You know where my scrolls are just tell my medics I said you could take them, and while you try to find a solution I'm going back to the hospital to attend to Naruto and see if there isn't anything I can do for him right now." that being said Tsunade walked out of the room leaving Jiraiya to find his own way to the sealing scrolls.

Once inside the room he gathered as many scrolls as he could in his arms and disappeared with them, a lot of his research would have to take place wherever Naruto was so that he could figure out what was working and what wasn't.

What he hadn't been expecting was how still his favorite hyperactive Ninja was lying. He hated seeing him connected to all the tubes, that were at the moment barely keeping him alive. It hurt his heart even more to see Naruto struggling to breathe. In fact it made him all that more angry at Sakura for having pushed him off the bridge.

"I hope you take her headband for this" He said from between gritted teeth. "she doesn't deserve to be a ninja if she won't take the time to get to know the small facts about ALL of her teammates and not just Sasuke."

"She will be punished but I'm not taking her headband." Tsunade said "I think living with the guilt of knowing what she done is a good start to punishing her. She won't ever forget it. and if he leaves us for good, that will just make the guilt worse, but I haven't really been thinking about Sakura right now, been too busy trying to think of what I can do to save Naruto" Tsunade said "keeping him alive is more important than anything else right now, but as soon as we get through this crisis, that will be the first thing taken care of"

Jiraiya sighed and a grabbed a seat closest to Naruto's head.

"I thought it would be better to work on my research in here, but I don't think it will be that easy seeing how hard he's struggling for his next breath."

"Nothing is ever easy for him but he always manages to pull through in the end, hopefully this won't be much different" she said as she reached over and gently brushed the hair away from Naruto's eyes.

"Don't give up dear boy, you have a fight ahead of you, but I know you can pull through if you just try, you have so many people rooting for you right now, so please just hang on. We'll find a way to save you no matter what. We won't give up on you so please don't give up on us." Tsunade kissed his forehead gently before leaving the room and letting Jiraiya work in peace.

Sorry it took so long, been working on other stories until I got the inspiration to work on this one again. Thanks for reading and reviewing Liz.


	7. Chapter 7

A fight to live

Chapter 7

Jiraiya worked consistently for the next several hours, Naruto's struggle to breathe, a harsh background noise in Jiraiya's ears. Jiraiya wondered as he looked up to check on Naruto's monitor, how much longer Naruto was going to be able to last. He went back to his research hoping to find an answer soon, because he had the feeling the clock was running down.

A four short hours later Jiraiya had his answer, he had found a seal that would in effect replace the one that was wearing off. Jiraiya stood and walked to the door, intending to go get Tsunade from her office which was a couple of doors down, when he felt a huge blast of red chakra. When he whirled around he saw that Naruto's body was writhing on the bed, as the chakra slowly came out, covering every inch of his skin.

"Oh hell" he muttered and hollered for Tsunade as he approached the bed. He had a seal that would repress the red chakra until he could get the seal fixed. Tsunade came rushing through the door; she paused when she saw the chakra leaking. She swallowed hard; she hadn't thought it would happen so soon. She wasn't ready for this to happen, she hadn't prepared herself for what was going to eventually happen. Because after all she had known that there couldn't possibly be any way to fix the seal at least not without someone dying.

"Are you going to help me or not?" Jiraiya asked as he placed a seal on Naruto's forehead and slowly the chakra disappeared again but in its place it left severe burns. Tsunade winced those would hurt if Naruto ever gained consciousness again.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked approaching the bed.

"I'm going to need help holding him down, I found a seal that might work, and if it works it just might help us all." Jiraiya said "it will allow the fox to get out but it will be forced into a physical fox body from there we can kill it. Might be a little dangerous letting the fox out though but at the moment I don't see any other options."

"And what's it going to do to Naruto?" Tsunade demanded worried about the knuckleheaded teen lying on the bed.

"It has about a fifty percent chance of killing him" Jiraiya admitted dodging the fist that was swung his way. "The way I see it, his odds are worse as they stand now"

"You better hope it doesn't kill him" Tsunade growled but moved to assist him, but it quickly became apparent that they were going to need more help as the fox was already trying to fight the seal. Tsunade paused briefly and called for Shizune, who was around the corner attending patients. She came quickly as soon as she heard Tsunade call, she knew that Tsunade would be with Naruto at this time and that something must have been going on with him. She entered Naruto's room to find Tsunade holding a writhing Naruto down. From the looks of things she was having a hard time.

"Call in any Anbu that can get here" Tsunade demanded panting "We're going to need some help." Shizune nodded and turned and ran out the door. Tsunade turned back towards Naruto.

"Hang on kiddo" she said softly as she tried to avoid grabbing ahold of any burned skin, though she doubted he could feel much of anything at this point. At least she hoped not, the burns were at least third degree and from the looks of them were quite painful. She hoped Jiraiya knew what he was doing.

Naruto's body continued to seize as Tsunade struggled to hold him down. The Anbu better hurry up and get here she thought as Naruto released a pain filled cry. The sound made Tsunade's heart bleed, she hated to see her brat hurting in any way, but this was definitely the worst.

Ten minutes later several Anbu entered the room, they quickly moved into position without being told what to do, with the added help Tsunade was able to help Jiraiya get Naruto ready for the procedure. Even as Jiraiya was getting ready to break the seal, the fox's chakra started leaking out again.

"Just how much physical damage is this going to do to Naruto?" Tsunade said Jiraiya shrugged.

"The only thing I cared about was the results" Jiraiya replied "I only care about what's going to happen in the long run."

"You don't even know if it's going to help or not" Tsunade said "You're leaving too much to chance." After that there was no talking for several minutes, as they waited to see what happened. Nothing changed until Jiraiya made the proper hand signs and touched the seal that was slowly fading off Naruto's stomach. The room exploded into a bright red light and they were all thrown into the wall.

"Tell me again how this was a good idea?" Tsunade demanded as she pulled herself to her feet.

"You wanted to save Naruto didn't you?" Jiraiya asked his eyes not leaving the fox demon was snarling at them. Jiraiya approached while the Anbu were trying to distract it. All he had to do was place a seal on the beast and it would be in a physical form, they could kill it then. But something was telling Jiraiya it wouldn't be that easy.

Somehow they were able to hear the sound of pounding feet coming from down the hallway. To Jiraiya's surprise Sakura rushed into the room. Sasuke and Kakashi along with a few others were right behind her. The fox seeing that Sakura was blocking the exit grabbed her and flung her out the window but while he was distracted by Sakura and the others, Jiraiya ran forward and slapped the seal on him, and within a few seconds. The demon fox was roughly the size of a small dog.

"Somebody go check on Sakura" Tsunade ordered as she went to help corner the fox.

"Better yet" Jiraiya said "check on Naruto there is no promise that he is still with us. We can catch the fox." Tsunade nodded and went to the boy lying on the table. Her heart ached at the sight of him bleeding, it looked like all the burns he'd suffered had just burst open and he was bleeding.

"Guess that's what happens when you have a demonic fox pulled from you." she muttered before checking his vitals. She felt a stab of pain through her heart when she didn't feel a pulse and it didn't look like he was breathing at all.

"Oh Naruto" she murmured softy "It wasn't supposed to end like this for you." she felt a tear drop down her face. Words couldn't express the pain this particular loss caused her. She wished she could go back and stop the removal of the fox, then again who's to say that Naruto wouldn't have died anyways.

"I'm so sorry" she murmured as she ran her hand through his hair. "You were destined for great things how the hell could this happen to you? Why couldn't I save you?" she closed her eyes for a moment as if to shut off the pain. But she knew nothing could take away the hurt she was feeling.

"I need some Sake" she muttered even she knew that's not how Naruto wanted her to be. She swallowed hard trying to rid herself of the lump in her throat; she had hoped to never have to feel this way again, she should have known this would happen, after all everyone she ever cared for was taken from her, why should Naruto have been any different?

"Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked softly knowing that she shouldn't interrupt her grieving process. "Sakura needs surgery; it's not looking very good for her right now."

"You take over tonight" Tsunade said softly "I'm not going to be able too." That being said she turned and walked out of the room.

**Is Naruto really dead? Guess you shall have to find out in the next chapter. Thanks for reading and reviewing.**


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